


The Adventures of Stuff and Thangs.

by WhiteFireLion



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Come to different world, Comedy, Daryl and Feelings, Dimension Cannon, F/M, Original Character(s), Portals, Rick Being an Asshole, Ricktatorship, Romance, Season/Series 05, Sexual Tension, Tension, Violence, Walkers (Walking Dead), Zombies, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-07-29 07:59:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7676512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiteFireLion/pseuds/WhiteFireLion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever thought about what would happen if the characters from The Walking Dead came to our world? What would they do and how on earth would they react without the threat of walkers and arseholes? </p><p>Over in England, Julie who is a registered nurse in Kent is about to find out as they turn up at her back door, forcing themselves upon her. Faced with the reality that her guests are the living and breathing TV characters, Julie has to make sure that they all stay put whilst she tries to figure out if the walker virus is spreading from them to our world. Caught up in the middle of things the gang and Julie face new threats and have to come to terms with the reality that if they can come in to our world, surely they could go back. In the meantime, will others recognise these famous characters and will she get caught harboring them? But more importantly... Will Daryl finally have a shower?</p><p>Set during Season 5, right after the group escapes terminus. (May get steamy later on and rating change to M). Also relationships will be added but I haven't decided yet. Maybe a Daryl/OC or Daryl/Carol or even another OC/OC. We'll see. :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Life as it used to be

**Author's Note:**

> AN: This is my very first story so I hope you like it. This first chapter is really about getting to know the OC so don’t expect much action just yet. I’ll add the second chapter soon.

I didn’t understand anything, what was going on? I felt confused, shocked at what was happening. My head still hurt from where I had been violently shoved up against the wall of the hallway, still unsure whether or not what I was seeing and feeling was actually real. Was I hallucinating this freakish situation? There he was, pinning me to the floor with his knife still pressed up against my throat, Rick Grimes.

\---Roughly 12 hours earlier---

The piercing sound of an alarm clock filled the silent, morning air. Turning over, I slammed my hand over the source of the annoying sound only to find my hand smashing down onto the clock. I fumbled around to try and find the button to turn it off, after what seemed minutes of frantic searching I turned on the light. Letting out sounds of frustration, I finally realised that it was actually my phone making that stupid noise. My hands grabbed at the phone and opened the flap of the phone case so I could swipe across the dismiss button. Grunting, my head hit the pillow with a thump, all I wanted to do was sleep. My limbs ached with that uncomfortable groggy feeling of sleep that seemed to reside itself in my very bones. It took me around 5 minutes to finally get out of my warm, cosy bed which seemed to want to beckon me back to sleep. The room was deathly cold and made my body stiffen and teeth chatter slightly, I grabbed my purple dressing gown and hurriedly put it on whilst my feet blindly searched for the matching slippers which were hidden somewhere under the bed.

It was now 06:08am and there were no sounds coming from the next door bedroom. “Fatma” I called, knocking on my housemate’s door. After a moment of silence I began again this time a lot louder. “We’re going to be late for work, we star in just over an hour… If you don’t hurry up you can walk”. This time there was a stir in the room in front of me and a small groan was heard, an attempt to respond to the wake up call. “Fatma, I swear to god. I will get a cold, wet flannel and smack you with it. We were late yesterday because of you not getting out and I’m not going to wait around for you this time so just get up. Please!”.

“Fine, I’m up. Dont be so bitchy about it Julie!” Fatma said half joking, her voice was dry and croaky but still held that light underlining tone to it. Both Fatma and I were currently living together and worked at the same place, the William Harvey Hospital as nurses. Neither of us would deny that we both love our jobs enormously but at times it was just too stressful for our own liking.

“Ha. Ha. Well I’m going to make a pot of tea, Do you want one?”

“Definitely!” Fatma’s head appeared at the door as she wrapped herself in her own dressing gown. Her deep brown eyes focused on me, her olive skin tone looking a lot pailer in the artificial light. She swept her messy, long brown hair into a big bun on top of her head and pulled it slightly so in fanned out. “You gonna make breakfast whilst you’re at it too?” She grinned, her angular features becoming more defined.

“hmm… Only If you’re down in less than 15 minutes so I can use the upstairs bathroom to get ready.” I said smirking, knowing this would be a challenge for her as she seemed to always take forever when getting ready. We had two bathrooms but we were trying to keep the downstairs one tidy for when our families came down to visit in a few days.

“Deal.”

After making breakfast, I put Fatma’s portion of toast, eggs and bacon in the oven to keep warm. I grabbed my own plate and sat down to eat it and was almost finished when Fatma came down from upstairs. “Done with the bathroom?”

“Yes, now where’s mine?” Fatma came down in her nursing uniform with a small amount of makeup applied to her face. Her hair was looking a lot neater, in a bun similar to the one that she wore earlier. She looked around the kitchen trying to locate her own food as she moved to grab her cup of tea from the small table and drank from it eagerly.

“It’s in the oven, like it normally is” rolling my eyes. “I’m going to get ready now so can you clear this up after you have eaten?” I asked, getting up from the chair at the table and over to the hallway which led to the stairs.

“Yeah, will do. Thanks”

I made my way upstairs to the bathroom where I hastily got ready and brushed my teeth. Looking in the mirror I saw to my dismay, two dark circles around my light blue eyes. Sighing, I pressed my hands to my face and rubbed my temples whilst smoothing out my slightly messy eyebrows. After washing my face using the flannel I grabbed my makeup bag and applied concealer to the areas around my eyes, nose and chin. Although I didn’t have any spots my pale skin always seemed to be a bit blotchy, especially around those areas. I grabbed my liquid foundation and applied it to my skin next, unlike Fatma’s nose mine was rather round but we had a similar angular jaw lines and shaped eyes. When I had finished applying a small amount of eyeliner, mascara and blush I started to unbraid my hair from the two plaits that I had slept in. My hair was really curly anyway but sleeping in plaits made the curls hold a lot better and stopped it from being too frizzy which is needed as me and Fatma are going to go out tonight drinking. Bearing that in mind, I re-plaited my light brown curls into one long plait which ended half way down my back. 

5 minutes later I came down stairs fully dressed and ready to find Fatma still in the Kitchen putting the rest of the dishes away in the washing machine. I grabbed my bag and took out the water bottle from inside of it, going over to the sink to where Fatma was, to fill it with water. “Hey, I’m ready so you should just go upstairs and brush your teeth, do you need your water bottle refilling?” I asked, my eyes turned to Fatma as I waited for her response.

“If you could, I wont be long” Fatma raced off upstairs whilst I prepared Fatma’s water bottle which was already by the sink. We kept both of our bags, shoes and coats in the closet under the stairs. After getting our shoes and coats out, I put on my own and turned off the kitchen light. Although it was nearing 7 o'clock it was still rather dark outside as it was the middle of December. Reaching into my coat pocket I got out my keys and unlocked the front door. “I can’t wait for tonight!” Fatma squealed. “Just wait till you see him, he’s definitely your type” The excitement on Fatma’s face was clear and although I did appreciate her efforts in trying to set me up with another one of her guy friends... I was tired of it. I did want to have a family of my own one day but I just don’t want to enter in any relationships just yet. After my previously long-term relationship went south I just haven’t felt up for dating anyone at the moment. It was all still too soon. Something which Fatma didn’t seem to understand. Plus, I still don’t understand how she knows all these guys which I haven’t met, we went through college together and university and mixed with the same people. “Now I’m going to go back to Josh’s place after work to get ready so I will meet you at 8 at The Workshop.” I opened the front door and stepped outside, breathing in the fresh cold air.

“Isn’t that place a little expensive?” I said, raising an eyebrow.

“Maybe a little, but it’s such a nice place and it’s ‘live band night’ tonight. It’s going to be fun”. Still not entirely convinced I unlocked my small family sized car and got in, starting it up. The way to work was quiet as I didn’t really fancy talking about this guy called Tom and what a potential dream boat he would be for me. So instead, I cranked up the volume to the radio in the car which was currently playing one of songs by Imagine Dragons. I had already agreed to see the guy for a night out, which was only after nights of torture delivered by Fatma's annoying singing. The most annoying part of that is Fatma could actually sing, it was what she sang which was annoying and currently that was Bad Lip Reading's Carl Poppa.

It wasn't much longer until I pulled into one of the staff car parking spaces and we got out of the car. "I'm going to have a cigarette before work, wanna come?" I asked, locking the car behind us. Fatma nodded as she yawned and pulled her bag more onto her shoulder. Smoking was one release which really allowed me to destress and relax. Although I had my art to help me with that- it wasn’t the same. Drawing and painting are great when you’re in the mood to be creative- but I’m not always in that mood. But is there really a ‘mood’ for smoking? No. It’s something which can be indulged upon whenever time is available. We moved over together to a bench in the smoking zone near the hospital, it wasn’t too far from where we worked or the car park, only a mere 5-10 minutes walk away. As we walked I got out my tobacco, rizzlers and a filter and started to roll a cigarette. The walk over to the bench was quiet, similar to the journey here. I think we’re just both in anticipation for when work begins. I lit the fag and drew in a long breath, my lips perched around the cigarette and then inhaled. We both love our job and wouldn’t change it for the world but it didn’t stop it from being stressful and cause an uncertain feeling of anxiety in the pit of my stomach. It was just because of how uncertain the days were- not knowing exactly what was going to happen until we got in and even then it could be even more unpredictable. There are loads of good points to it too though; spending time with the patients and hearing about their lives; telling a patient that their treatment is working; seeing the outcome of successful treatment. All were things which both me and Fatma enjoyed about our job, plus countless other things.

By the time we had finished our cigarette it was getting dangerously close to the time we start work. After a light jog to the building we both signed in and entered the staff locker room to put our things away. From behind me I could hear Fatma struggling with opening her locker. After a few failed attempts she turned around to face me "are you just going to stand there or are you going to bloody well help me? Jesus Julie!" Fatma looked as if she was going to turn blue in the face.

"Calm down stress head, I'm coming" I said as I walked towards her locker. I grabbed hold of the handle which still had the key in it and lifted the door slightly and pulled it open which it did with ease. "Better?" I asked, now turning to face a rather red faced Fatma.

"Yes" she hissed, shoving her stuff in her locker roughly. "How come you make it look so fucking easy?" she spat, slamming her locker closed. I couldn't help but giggle at her frustration.

"Because it is" I whispered in her ear. With that I raced out of the locker room to start my shift with a fuming Fatma behind me.

It wasn't until 3 o'clock that I finished my shift which was an unusual time to finish as we normally had 12 hour shifts. Today however, both myself and Fatma had taken a few hours off as holiday leave for that day and then a week off after that as we are going to have both our families down for a few days. Which meant that the house was going to be very crowded even though we’re living in a 4 bedroom house we’re still going to have to put some people in the living room on inflatable beds and have others crash on the sofas. It was rather bothersome that both me and Fatma had 4 siblings. I am the youngest of 5 (which is debatable as I'm a twin, younger by 2 minutes) and she’s the 3rd oldest. It was going to be a push as Fatma's eldest sister, Delick had a 2 year old and a partner who also stayed with us. The house that we were living in wasn't entirely large either but it had the bedrooms on the top floor with a small bathroom and a kitchen, dining room- which is barely used, a living room and another bathroom which was a lot bigger than the one upstairs. This had become rather an annual routine For both our families to come down as it was impossible for me and Fatma to get time off at Christmas. Thankfully it was only for 3 days otherwise I'm sure both of us would go crazy.

When I entered the locker room I saw a rather dishevelled Fatma struggling with her locker again and yelling expletives at it. I couldn't help but laugh at her, she was just too funny. Fatma's head snapped to my direction and her eyes narrowed as she looked at me sternly. "We should swap lockers, you can open this piece of shit. I CAN'T!" She yelled, staring at me as I continued to laugh.

"I've told you what to do, lift it slightly and then open it." I chuckled.

"You're stronger than me, I can't do it. I'VE TRIED!" She said while pulling on her locker making it slam in and out as it refused to open. Sighing, she gave me her best puppy eyes "please". Flashing her eyelashes for further effect.

I give up, I can't be arsed with this any longer. Having this everyday is really starting to annoy me. I walk over towards her locker and open it. She just looks at me and grabs her things out and then shuts the locker door. After getting out my own things I then give her my locker key and take hers. "There, happy now?"

"Yep" she then wraps her arms around me in a tight, rib cracking hug.

"omph.. Okay just go. Is Josh picking you up or do you need a lift?" I try to untangle myself from her arms but she just holds on even tighter, making it even more painful.

"He's picking me up. But thanks anyway" she pulled away from me and looked up, smiling mischievously. “Can’t wait to see you tonight all dressed up for Tom. Wear something sexy- that black dress you have the one that makes your brea-”

“No. Enough, go to Josh and get out of here. I’m sure he’s waiting for his blowy” I pushed her away from me playfully, returning the smile and walked out of the locker room. “See you at 8!”.

“Pfft. Bye.”

I exited the building and walked over to my car, unlocking it. This was going to be an interesting evening, one which I’m probably never going to hear the end of.


	2. Dancing shoes

It didn’t take too long until I got home from the hospital. I had an hour or so until I had to get ready for tonight so I decided to relax by watching a few episodes of The Walking Dead season 5. Even though I have already watched all them. After I had unlocked the front door and put my things away I ran into the living room and hooked my laptop to the tv using a HDMI cable and put on the first episode of season 5. While it was loading I went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea, it always was best to let it buffer a while before playing, then ran back into the living room and pressed play. Jumping onto the beige leather sofa. It’s a rare and enjoyable thing to see Norman Reedus tied up looking hot and sweaty, something about his large biceps tensing made me, and probably every fan girl out there squirm with delight. However, when I first saw this episode with Fatma we were both yelling at the screen- imagining the worst. But what I enjoyed most of all about this episode was how badass Carol was. After finishing the episode and seeing the heart-warming reunion between the characters in the second episode with Judith I realised the time. It was nearing 4:30 although I still had plenty of time I didn’t want to rush so I paused the episode there and started to get ready. Starting with a shower upstairs. 

The second part of getting ready is the fun part, once out of the shower and relatively dry, I started to apply my makeup. I think this time I’ll go for a slightly seductive look, but not too much that it becomes slutty. With the foundation and concealer applied I started to highlight my skin, using a palette of makeup which my eldest sister Rachael had gotten me, also using the darker tones to create more depth and shadow in the areas around my jaw and under my cheekbones slightly. Just to make them slightly more pronounced but not overly done, it still had a natural look to it. After putting on the rest of my make up I looked into the mirror over the bathroom sink to make sure it looked okay. I had put on a slightly rose coloured blush, a mixture of brown eyeshadows which darkened at the outer corner of my eye, winged out my eyeliner slightly to make my eyes look bigger and used those single false eyelashes accompanied by mascara. I then un-plaited my hair and ran my fingers through it, freeing the curls from being clumped together. The tight ringlets resting slightly on the small of my back. It was nearing 6 o’clock so I ran down the hall and into my room and put on the radio loud, playing some old 80’s songs. I listened for a while before the classic Whitney Houston song came on and joined in. 

*Huh, yeah, woo, hey yeah, huh  
Ooh yeah, uh huh, yeah  
I want to dance  
Clock strikes upon the hour  
And the sun begins to fade  
Still enough time to figure out  
How to chase my blues away*

 

Opening my oak drawers to select underwear for tonight, although I didn't have loads, I did have a few nice pieces. I knew that I was going to wear my skin coloured stockings with the black laced top and hold ups, but the rest I was unsure about. After a while of debating I decide on something that’ll go with it. The matching set with a red lace lining around the top of the bra and around the edges of the panties, I pick them out of the drawers and throw them on to the bed. I’ve got to be able to tease this guy, and no- there is no way in hell that he’s coming home with me tonight or that anything is going to happen. I guess it’s because I never get chance to wear this kind of lingerie anymore so I look for reasons to wear it. After putting everything on, I looked at myself in the full length mirror-

Suddenly there was a crash from downstairs, not knowing what it was I grabbed my dressing gown and wandered down stairs, as quietly and fast as I could. It’s probably just the neighbour’s cat again, that stupid thing doesn’t seem to know what a window is. It’s done it a few times but nothing in the past few months or more. 

*I've done alright up till now  
It's the light of day that shows me how  
And when the night falls, the loneliness calls*

From where I stood I could hear a number of different voices. I got further down the stairs I heard one in particular “Is that music playing?” It was a man. Shit I’m being bloody robbed! I turned quickly and grabbed the metal pole on the landing which was used to open the attic earlier in the week to get out some things.

*Oh, I wanna dance with somebody  
I wanna feel the heat with somebody  
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody  
With somebody who loves me*

“I knew this place weren’t empty, got damn electrics for god sake and it’s too clean. I ain’t likin’ it one bit.” It was a different voice this time. A lot huskier and rougher than the first one. There were a lot more voices but I couldn’t hear them clearly. 

*Oh, I wanna dance with somebody  
I wanna feel the heat with somebody  
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody  
With somebody who loves me  
I've been in love and lost my senses  
Spinning through the town  
Sooner or later the fever ends  
And I wind up feeling down  
I need a man who'll take a chance  
On a love that burns hot enough to last  
So when the night falls  
My lonely heart calls*

I came down the stairs quickly and yelled into the living room “I don’t know who you are or what you want but get out of my house. I’ve already rung the police and they’re on their way”. All the voices in the room went quiet the moment I spoke. I could hear my heart racing in my ears and adrenaline take over me. 

After a few hushed murmurs a man came out of the living room, he was covered in what looked like blood, dirt and sweat. He was scaring the shit out of me. His beard was long and messy, not to mention his greasy, disgusting hair which was almost pinned back from the amount of grease. He looked straight through me, confused at first. His eyes looking me up and down and rested on the metal bar which I held in my hands. I suddenly felt very self conscious of what I was wearing, no doubt he was guessing just what I had on underneath as my dressing gown wasn't long enough to hide all of my legs as it stopped just above the knee. My grip tightened on the metal pole. "Who are you?" I tried hard not to let my voice tremble but it was hard. I had had taekwondo lessons before and even gotten my black belt but I don't think this would help me here. I don't know how many more of them there were in the living room. Probably too many for me to take on plus it looked like they had guns. 

"What's your name?" he spoke calmly, it was the first voice I heard earlier. His gaze was fixed on mine now, it was unsettling. I could feel something telling me to run, my legs were trembling slightly. 

"I asked first " I spat. I could still hear the music playing from upstairs.

Another man came out of the room now who was in the same messy condition that the first man was. He also looked extremely confused as he looked at me, almost scanning. His beard was a lot shorter, almost a goatee but his hair was a lot longer and hung before his eyes. What was most interesting was that he held a fucking crossbow on his back. A crossbow. Of all things. My eyes then snapped back towards first man and I scanned him for weapons. I could see a gun and what looked like a blade with a red long handle. Fuck. I'm screwed. Now I was really panicking and I think they could tell and the first guy was raising his hands and said "My names Rick Grimes, this is Daryl. Now, who are you?"

I felt anger boil from deep inside me, did these two think I was a fucking idiot? "Who do you think I am? Do I look like an idiot? Who are you?! You know what I don't fucking care just. Get. OUT!" 

The second guy looked really pissed off now and strode towards me. "We told ya who we are, now tell us or all shove an arrow in that lil’ head of yours." He was now reaching for his cross bow and before I could really think- I acted, smashing the metal bar down on him.

*Hoo, hoo, dance, c'mon baby*

He went to grab it but missed and it came crashing down on his right shoulder. 

*Woo, yeah*

He let out a yelp and then tried to hit me with his other arm, more accurately his fist. I just managed to dodge it but wasn’t ready for when he swung his crossbow into me. I could feel the pain in my side slightly but it just made me all the more on edge. Ducking at just the right moment under another swing. With a punch to his lower abdomen, I used my other hand in a knife hand strike to the front of his throat, momentarily closing the windpipe against itself, cutting off his air. I was acting in auto pilot. Finishing it off with a punch to Daryl's face, probably braking his nose. Everything I had learnt in taekwondow just came to me and before I knew what I had the guy in a headlock on the ground.

*Woah  
Don't ya wanna dance with me baby?* 

I felt a sudden pang of pain as the first guy pulled me off the second one. He has his hand gripped around my throat and was forcing me up against the stairs cupboard. I don't know when it happened, probably when I was fighting with the other arsehole but my dressing gown had came loose, exposing my lingerie. Which just made me struggle more, trying to cover up. This is so embarrassing... He manages to grip both of my hands above my head and for a moment I stop struggling and look at the guy infront of me. The smell from these guys is just disgusting, so much so that I’m gagging. These guys smell worse than they look. “Daryl, you okay?” he turns around to face the other guy and I can see the guy’s nose is bleeding. Good. He’s up though which means I didn't hit him hard enough.

“Yea, im alright. lil’ bitch got me hard though.” It wasn’t until then that I noticed the southern american accent on both of the guys, I am beyond confused. I try looking at both of them, try and take in their appearances. This can’t be right. “Where’s the rest of your group?” The guy who was supposedly Daryl asked me. I can see his eyes look over me again and pause on my chest before looking at me dead in the eyes again.

“I haven’t got a group now stop playing your little game the police will be here any time now.” I haven’t rung the police, like an idiot I just went in head first. I got more looks of confusion between the two and now I can see that more people have filed through into the hallway. The entire thing just made me want to laugh and I do. They all resemble characters from The Walking Dead. This cannot be happening.. What’s really annoying me though is the looks that they’re giving me. I start to struggle again and Rick’s hold tightens on me.

*Don't ya wanna dance? Say you wanna dance  
Don't ya wanna dance?*

My leg goes up to knee him where it will really hurt and I succeed, manage to push him off me and into the group of people and then duck under Daryl’s outstretched hands. Kicking him square in the stomach and I try and race upstairs. I can lock myself in my room that way but I’m too late.

*Don't ya wanna dance? Say you wanna dance  
Don't ya wanna dance?  
(Hoo, hoo)  
Dance  
(Hoo, hoo, hoo)  
Hoo, hoo, hey baby*

Like the Whitney Houston song, I’m finished. Rick has his giant red handled blade out, pressed up against my throat while he has me pressed against the floor of the bottom steps. His eyes are beyond scaring me, he has a crazed look. Mad. “Y-you can’t get away with this. They’ll catch you.” I should’ve just made a run for it earlier.

“Ye? who? Tell us! Is it your group? Ya working with terminus?” Daryl yelled at me. 

“No! The fucking police, you idiot!”

“There ain't any police anymore.” Rick said still looking deranged. At this point I’m surprised no one else hasn’t said anything. I look over to where everyone else is and I can see a teenager, not much younger than Omak, Fatma’s youngest sister. I think Rick knows I’m looking at Carl as he forcefully turns my face back towards him. “Look at me, I ain’t taking your shit anymore! One bad move and you’re dead.” 

I clamp my eyes shut, too scared to directly look at him, but his grip on my face hardens “there are police and they will find you!” I look back at Rick. “Where do you think you are Rick?” 

“Outskirts of Georgia, in the middle of a fucking apocalypse” At this point I have too much adrenaline running through my veins to really think straight. I start to laugh which just makes him press even harder down on my throat using the blade.

“Get off me. I’ll give you points for trying but no. You’re in England and there is no bloody apocalypse.” I cough slightly as the pressure is getting to be a bit too much for me to be able to breathe. I think the blade has broken my skin as I can feel a stinging sensation and warm liquid flow down my neck. Rick gets up off me, and looks down at me with a mixture of pity and confusion, as if I’m the one who’s deranged. He still holds his blade out at me as if I’m going to go mad and attack them.

“She’s out of her mind, just leave her” Says a woman who I’m guessing is Maggie as she has attached herself to the Asian guy which of course must be Glenn.

“Just look outside if you don’t believe me. Then we’ll see who's out of their mind” I get up and wrap my dressing gown firmly around me, I can see the sash on the floor next to Daryl's feet. His eyes follow mine to the floor and he picks it up handing it over. Thankfully throughout the entire fight I didn’t have any slips where more parts of me were showing. After tying my dressing gown together and regaining a small amount of dignity I look over at Rick “Can I?” he stares at me for a while, as if he evaluating me. Once a few more seconds pass Rick nods his head so I walk past him to the front door, I really hope that this is my world and not theirs. After taking a deep breath I reach for the door handle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I tried to make it a little comical with the music lyrics but I’m not sure if I pulled it off. The idea was that the music was playing in the background while the fight went on :P Oh well, Thanks for reading. The 3rd chapter will be up soon. leave me a review and let me know what you think. :)


	3. The Door

I don’t really know what to do. Part of me wants to open the door and run out screaming but for some strange reason I’m finding it beyond difficult to have the mindset to open it. What if it’s not actually my world? What if it is indeed theirs and I've somehow been transported into their world full of flesh eating zombies and arseholes that want these guys dead? If that is the case then running out making a shit tonne of noise is not going to help. 

Hang on, I’m believing them now? These people are just lookalikes who come around having excuses to rob people. I turn around back towards the group of people behind me, ‘Daryl’ is giving me a deathly cold stare, his crossbow is still in his hands. I’m a lot calmer now than I was before, I can feel the adrenaline rush slowly subside and my heart rate decrease. It’s no longer in my ears. The group of people behind ‘Rick’ and ‘Daryl’ are starting to shift and murmur to themselves, speaking in hushed voices so I can’t hear exactly what they’re saying. Something about a trap. Man, aren't these guys paranoid. This is when I start to hear a baby crying from back inside the living room, although Rick doesn’t seem to care much by the noises whereas the man with the mullet nearest to the living room door is looking rather uncomfortable, shifting to one foot to the other. 

“Ya goin’ to open the door or not?” I stare at him blankly and turn back towards the door resting my hand back on the handle. “This is bullshit” Daryl is walking over to me now with his crossbow raised, ready to fire but not on me- on the door. As if he is waiting for something to come at us when I open it. 

“What are you doing?” I ask him in a monotone flat voice. I push him lightly to the side and shake my head slightly. I can see the silent exchange between Rick and Daryl from behind me, Daryl leans his back against the wall right next to the door, as if when it opens there will be a threat and he'll jump into action and do some kind of James Bond shit. I raise an eyebrow at him a slight smile playing on my lips- imagining him in tux, wielding some fancy gun. I push it down and remind myself that this guy is just an idiot. Class A, No. 1 moron. Just as I turn the handle the doorbell rings. I can’t help but stop in mid action. The whole atmosphere behind me has changed, Rick has his gun out and his blade back at his side and when I turn around further I see that the guy with the mullet has been pushed back into the living room and the door has been closed. Muffling the small cries from the baby. Everyone else has either a gun out or some other kind of weapon ready. I look back at Rick and he has his gun pointed at me.

“If this is a trap, I’ll pull this trigger” he mouths silently to me. He has that crazed look in his eyes again, this is really not good for my blood pressure levels. I take a deep breath and pull the door open. The cold evening air washes over me. In front of me is the small hunched over frame of the elderly lady from next door, Irene. I can’t help but sigh a breath of relief. Looking around I see the calm, quiet setting of Rosemary Lane which is lit up by street lamps as well as the faint signs of life from the inhabited houses both across the street and next door. looking over at Daryl quickly I can see that he is almost in a state of shock but he still has his crossbow raised. 

Her small brown eyes scan over me quickly before practically yelling “Julie! Are you okay? I heard voices and I thought- Oh Julie your neck! What happened? Is everything alright?” my hand finds it way to my neck and I can feel the warm liquid which is spread on the surface on my skin. I look down to my hand and see that it’s covered in blood. The cut that Rick had created was shallow but still had caused a large amount of blood to come pouring out. Dammit. I step forward and shut the door slightly. Discreetly pushing Daryl crossbow down, hopefully out of sight of Irene. The last thing I wanted was to get an elderly frail lady involved in all of this mess.

“I’m fine Irene, there's no need to worry-”

She stepped forward, trying to peer into the house. “Who’s that with you? Is Fatma with you? I thought I saw someone behind you-”

“N-no, she isn’t. It’s fine. I have guests, but they were just leaving. I’ll talk to you later Irene. There is no reason to worry.-” Irene took a step or two forwards and let out a scream when she saw Daryl standing there with the crossbow not entirely hidden. “Wait, Irene! I can explain- Just stop. Calm down!” This whole fiasco is going to be the death of me. The woman looked terrified- as if she had seen a ghost. I look over at Daryl and he just looks confused and a little bit horrified. He’s probably never had an elderly person scream at him like that before. Then again, if he's the thief I think he is- it's probably because he's never been caught. 

“What’s going on?!” She's panicking, taking a few steps back. Her wide eyes darting at the crossbow in his hands to his face and then back to my neck. It’s not hard to figure out what she’s assuming. Thank god Daryl’s nose wasn’t bleeding anymore. I take hold of Irene’s hand in mine gently.

“Nothing is wrong, he’s my friend- an idiot." my words are just stumbling out of my mouth. The clogs in my brain are churning not wanting to add another hostage to this situation. Plus, not everything is really adding up, Daryl’s look of sincere confusion is making me start to wonder. 

"Then why are you bleeding?" Again, I have no idea what to say but an idea sparks to mind.

"It's fake." I turn to Daryl. He's giving me a questioning look. I look back at Irene and try to smile at her.

"Fake?" She repeats hesitantly, not entirely convinced. 

This is when I heard Daryl's rough voice speak out. "Yea, it's for a... Um" He looked at me, trying to find words which would excuse for the 'fake' blood. 

"We’re having a- a rehearsal!" I glanced over at Daryl. Thankfully he was the only one Irene could see. He was giving me a slightly confused look, his brow knitted together. Which quickly disbursed as his gaze returned to Irene. I gave him a look of desperation, hidden from Irene by my hair. I just hoped he would play along. Irene still looked puzzled. Her small brown eyes scanning my face, looking for any other signs that I wasn't alright. 

"For what?" Her gaze switching from me to Daryl, looking genuinely interested. 

"A play of.. " I look at Daryl again, unable to conjure up anything in that precise moment. What play would deem it necessary for fake blood?

He just looks at me with his mouth slightly agape. He's stuttering. I can hear a faint mumbling from behind the door as he looks blankly at Irene, gruffly mumbling “Beauty and The Beast”. It looked like Daryl would rather take an arrow to the arse then say that and in all honesty I’m rather surprised that he actually said it. There is some faint giggling coming from behind the door. At least someone finds this amusing. 

“It’s a modern day adaptation.” I say smiling sweetly at her. 

“Oh… I see. So who is this young man? Is he a friend of yours from the hospital?” She looks relatively calm now although her gaze is still fixed on Daryl. 

“Urm no. He’s from … this drama group I have started going to. You know the one over by the brickmakers- the pub. They have a sort of back room and a stage which we use.” I am literally making up all of this on the spot- there is a brickmakers pub but no theatre groups which reside there.

“Name’s Daryl.” He nodded at her. She hadn’t taken her eyes off him since the mention of it being a rehearsal, I’m not entirely sure if she believes us. 

“An american? I hear that american men are quite the charmers.” She smiling at him and I turn to look at him. He’s bloody blushing. Looking shifty as hell, looking anywhere but at Irene. Someone’s clearly feeling uncomfortable. Okay, that’s enough.

“Well Irene, we really need to get going but for what it’s worth I am terribly sorry for scaring you, or causing any other distress.” I looked over back at Daryl and gave him a stern stare and a small kick to his foot.

“Yea, umm… sorry Ma’am.” His gaze shifted down from Irene to his feet. He looked like a pubescent teenager who didn’t know what to do with himself but still managed to give me a glare. 

“Don’t worry my dears, I remember when I was your age. I took part in performances too and they were just as erotic as this one.“ She sighed looking down slightly before returning her gaze on a rather flustered Daryl and then me- giving me a wink. Erotic. Oh god, this woman had no idea how wrong she was. But then again I’m wearing a dressing gown and no doubt some cleavage is showing so I guess she was just going on appearances. 

It took a few more reassuring words from both myself and Daryl to get her to go back inside to the comforts of her own home. “Well that was weird.” I say as I shut the door and lean back against it. To my delight, I see that Rick is no longer aiming his gun at my head. 

“Ya tellin’ me, bloody old girl’s a perv.” He mumbles as he rubs his face with his hands. “And you, what the fuckin’ hell was that, eh?” he directs at a woman laughing behind Rick. She has long dark dreadlocks and a smooth chocolatey brown skin tone. I’ve got an impression that her names going to be Michonne. 

“Nothing” She says, a wide grin spread across her face as she raised her hands defensively. I can’t help but giggle- only to receive a death glare from Daryl. Beauty and The Best, good one. Rick cleared his throat impatiently not even slightly amused by the situation. 

“Daryl, what did you see apart from the old woman.”

“A clean road full o’ houses, cars and lit up by street lamps. Don’t look anythin like the area we were in from the back o’ the house.” Rick looked at him confused, as did the rest of them. Rick shifted so that his feet were further apart, his hand now resting on his hips and his brow knitted together.

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, these houses have electric, are all made from red brick and some o’ them are attached to each other. It’s just different, the layout and everythin’. Don’t seem right.” Daryl walked over to Rick and carried on saying “And that old lady, definitely ain’t ‘merican.” Rick shut his eyes as he pinched the brink of his nose. 

“Could be like another Woodbury” Rick said looking back at Daryl and also at the rest of the group. Daryl shook his head and leaned back on the wall, scratching his chin.

“Didn’t see no walls, and if it was we got in here way too easy. Plus that lady don't know me. Would'a raised hell if that was it.”

“So you’re saying we are in England then?!” Rick raising his voice at Daryl, more aggressive than was necessary in my opinion. This man is a loose wire. I looked over at Daryl, I could see his frustration and anger building up on his face.

“How about we watch the news? That way you can see for yourself that you’re in England and that there is no... apocalypse as you all put it.” I spoke out, drawing Rick’s attention away from Daryl.

“Pft, woman- you’re really tickin’ me off.” Daryl growled. He shoved past me roughly which caused me to be pushed back against the wall. These people. The nerve. Here they are in my house and they’re the ones throwing the accusations, threats and mean words. I walk past the living room into the kitchen and grab the phone, they’re all looking at me as if I’m pulling up a lump of butter and shoving it to my ear.

“What?” They don’t say anything in response. Just carry on looking at me as if I’m some fucking madman. “I have every right to call the police if after this you don’t all get the fuck out.” More silence, although this time I think they’re all just really confused. “For fuck sake, just get in there and turn on the fucking TV.” I could feel my blood starting to boil again. I have a bloody date and it was already getting onto 6:30. “How’d you all get in here anyway?” I say as I enter the living room. Although I can’t help but pause as I see how dirty the baby looks. This is it. I’ve seriously had enough now. Enough games. This is fucking neglect. I turn the phone around in my hand and start punching in numbers. “I’m calling the police, that’s it. It’s one thing to break into someone’s house, start threatening them and fighting them- but it’s a whole other story when you bring a baby in here looking like that.” At this Rick strolled back over to me and grabbed hold of my wrist tightly. I try and get him off by kicking him hard in the shin but I miss.

“Not again, fuck sake. Let’s just talk this out” To my surprise it was the asian guy who spoke. Rick turned towards him, his grip loosening. “It’s clear none of this makes sense for either of us. Now I think a good way of starting to sort this out is by introducing ourselves to each other.” He looked around the room, looking at everyone before saying “Right, I’ll start. I’m Glenn”. 

Sure you are. just like the chick beside you is going to be fucking Maggie. He turned towards her and nodded for her to continue. Slowly one by one they all said their names, going round in a circle. There was 15 of them; Rick, Daryl, Carl, Michonne, Glenn, Maggie, Judith, Carol, Sasha, Tyreese, Bob, Abraham, Rosita, Eugene and Tara. They were all either sitting or standing. I hadn’t spoken yet, I was still being restrained by Mr. Rick Grimes over here. I didn’t want to anyway. This was obviously all a sick joke. They were all looking at me now, waiting for me to speak. I stared up at Rick and shook him off me, I took a few steps before the TV and grabbed the remote. I could feel every eye in the, now very cramped, room stare at me. I turned on the TV and flicked it to the news channel, the BBC news to be exact. I could hear sharp intakes of breath as they all just stared now at the TV. I was watching all of them, their reactions. They were all really good actors, if I didn’t know this was all a rouse I might have fallen for it. “My names Julie.” I few heads turned around to face me some nodded and others just looked completely transfixed on the TV. It wasn’t anything special it was just some news on random things both in the UK and in Europe, about the economy or something. I turn to leave the room and back into the kitchen, as both myself and Fatma are nurses we had a vast variety of medical kits which were stored in the cupboard closest to the door. I grabbed one and a torch from one of the cabinets on the other side of the kitchen. Might as well check to see if Daryl has a concussion, might do with the way I hit him. Just before I enter the living room again I grab the scales from the bathroom. It’s my duty as a nurse to ensure that baby is healthy and clean before they leave. Which would include the young teen in there too. I switched off the TV after 10 minutes, every head in the room turning to stare at me. “Now as you can see you’re all in England, you can all leave but I’m not letting you go before I check that baby over and Carl over there. They’re kids and I won’t stand for neglect.” Not a word in response, nothing. Just blank empty faces staring back at me. Was this so hard to take in?

“Rick, what’s going on?” It was Maggie who spoke, tears brimmed her eyes. Rick didn’t say anything none of them did. They all looked like they were in shock. As if this was all too much for them to process. 

Rick’s eyes turned to mine and he advanced on me again, his hands gripping my shoulders. “This is some sick joke right? You think you’re real funny don’t you!” Judith’s cries began again at the sound of Rick’s raised voice. He shook me, his grip tightening. “Don’t you!”

I screamed and tried to get away from him, dropping everything in my arms. Daryl pushed him off me and Glenn got out of his seat next to Maggie and stood between me and Rick, Daryl holding onto his arms. “Rick, you’re not helping. Back off!” Glenn shouted at him. Rick stopped struggling with Daryl and stayed still. My knees gave in and I found myself on the floor completely shaken. “Haven’t you hurt her enough already?” I could feel someone move behind me and help me up. I was guided out of the room and back towards the kitchen. One of the chairs was pulled out from beneath the table and I was guided to sit, which I did. My breaths were shaky and my heart was still thumping loudly in my ears. That man terrified me.

“Hey” a soft, gentle voice spoke. It was Carol sitting beside me at the table, her hand was still on my shoulder. She had a kind face and pale blue gentle, yet old eyes, her grey short hair was flicking out in slight curls. “Rick… can be a real dick sometimes... he’s under a lot of stress which leads to him doing and saying irrational things. I’ve been on the receiving end too of one of his irrational outbursts.” She paused for a moment and got up from the table and grabbed a bit of kitchen roll and ran in under the cold water tap. she came back to me after ringing it out a bit and started to clear up the blood. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”. I shook my head. It was strangely nice having Carol here comforting me, almost mothering. I felt instantly relaxed with her, at least not everyone in that group wanted to physically push answers out of me although I’m sure that more than half of them wouldn’t have gone anywhere near as far as Rick had. After Carol had cleaned up the blood the best she could she put the bloody kitchen roll piece in the bin.

“Carol, why don’t you tell me something about yourself? Something about before the apocalypse.” I try and make me voice as soft and kind as possible. I don’t know what to believe but I need some proof and knowledge to go on if I am to believe these people are who they say they are.

Carol turned to look at me, her eyes narrowed slightly before she asked “Why?”

“Because I need to know who is currently in my house.” Carol let out a big sigh and sat at the table in the chair across from me. She held her hands together and gazed down at them before looking back at me. I could see pain in her eyes.

“You have to understand that it was a rather… horrible time for me.”

“How so?”

“Well I had a daughter then” She shut her eyes and I could feel the raw emotion roll over her, tears were now threatening to spill over the rims over her eyes. She swallowed before continuing “and I failed her.” Her face darkened and I could see rage replace the sorrow that was there seconds ago. “But that bastard had what was coming to him, just wish I could of seen it- or done it myself.”

“What happened to her?”

“What happened? Well the same thing that happened to most children in this hell of a world." I didn’t need to say anymore, I already felt like I had said too much, really needed to learn to close my mouth. “So what about you? Tell me something about you before hell rained it’s ugly head on earth.”

“I’m a nurse, I work at the hospital near here and as far as I know and I can say for England, we haven’t had an apocalypse. What actually happened in err… this apocalypse of yours?” At that Carol just looked insulted, anger now scrunched her features. 

“Well, Julie I take it that you’re trying very hard to deny that there are walkers- the flesh eating undead-”

“What zombies?”

“What the hell are zombies? Is that what you call them?” I looked at her and groaned slightly. My hands covering my face. Right. Sure, what are zombies, okay I’ll play along.

“Why don’t you just show me where you guys got in-” At that Daryl came bursting in the room with Glenn at his side.

“Urm, guys… we have a problem.” Glenn spoke rather nervously.

“Walkers?” Carol spoke slightly alarmed and grabbed for her knife. 

“Nah, better than that. Went out the back and it ain’t the same place anymore. It’s changed. The door is still smashed in from where we broke in but the land has changed.” Daryl finished. Both men were in a state of shock, almost panting.

“Julie…” I looked up at her and her panicked eyes stared deeply into mine before asking “Are we really in England?” I returned her gaze. In that instant I knew they were telling the truth, I could see raw emotion in her eyes. The years of horror that had swallowed her up and changed her into the woman she was today, the pain of losing her daughter Sophia. Just aged 11. The years of abuse before the apocalypse from her dead husband, Ed. These really were the people from the show and somehow they had ended up here. It was going to be hard for all of us to try and explain, not to mention get through all of this in one piece without going crazy. I guess I was stuck in the position of helping them all, getting them back on their feet so they could at least try to integrate back into society. 

“Yes… we are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please follow and review. :)


	4. Absolutely Bannanas

There have been a few times throughout my relatively short life where I have some pretty stupid things, like that time I asked my neighbour when I was 16 if he was still a virgin. My 50-something, married neighbour. In the middle of the night, whilst wearing nothing but my underwear with a bunch of my giggling school friends behind me who were sleeping over at the time. Or even that one occasion when I was 18 when I decided that I wasn’t going to practice my martial arts techniques whilst my teacher was outside of the class, giving a lecture to some other student. I'd rather start practicing my clearly awesome dance moves which then turned the entire session into an episode of: “so you think you can dance?” Or when I was at university in Kent and decided to run around my hall, drunk and naked, with a number of my dorm mates (Fatma included). Not all of the stupid shit that I have done has been necessarily...‘fun’ or deemed funny like a lot of the previous mentioned stupidness. Like now for instance. 

It took a few moments for it to completely register everything being said. But the main three words at this moment were ‘problem’, ‘smashed’ and ‘door’. "Daryl... Can you repeat that again? " I look up at him from where I was looking at Carol who still looks to be in a state of bewilderment. 

"Well, went back to where we came in and it ain't the same. Like the forest we came through - gone! It ain't there. Just a tiny yard." Daryl finished his voice lined with a mixture of shock and a hint of excitement. 

"Not that part." I practically spat at him. "The part about the door... My. Back. Door." I manage to get out through gritted teeth. At this both Daryl and Glenn seem to understand my meaning and paused, both looking rather guilty and awkward. "Did. You. Break. My. Fucking. Door?"

"Not exactly, it still opens and closes" Glenn spluttered out. I got up from the chair and moved away from the table, shoving past both Daryl and Glenn into the Dining room which lead to the rear garden. Rick and Abraham were already there, pacing outside in the small garden. 

"This isn't right. It can't be." Abraham says, rubbing his hand over the back of his head whilst looking around the small garden. I didn’t take much notice of this as I paused at the sight of the door. The glass was completely smashed in and it looked like it had also been rammed into a few times in order to force it open. Smashed, dented and now completely useless… as a door anyway.

"What the actual fuck?!" My fists clenched either side of my body. I can't look at it any longer and turn to face the large wooden table in the centre of the room, resting my arms on it. Fuck. This place is rented… the landlord will kill me. I can't afford a new door as well as the fine that'll come with it. Neither can Fatma. Thinking of Fatma how the hell is she going to react to all of this? What am I going to bloody tell her? I let out a garbled scream and turn towards Rick, Abraham, Glenn, Daryl and Carol. At some point the three of them had entered the room behind me and stepped outside to take a look at the garden which had apparently 'transformed'. "You people are... " my voice was strained and pretty quiet, even though words seemed to fail me at that precise moment but I still manage to get their attention. "Such MORONS! Bloody idiots! Why did you break my fucking door? I can't afford to fix it. Can any of you?" Rick’s eyes narrowed on me as Abraham strolled over towards me, a menacing look in his eyes. God did these guys love me. If only looks could kill. 

"No one uses money anymore. No one has for a long time now so just shut it. We'll secure this place later." Abraham's tone was just as dark as Rick’s glare, looking down at me straight in the eyes. For pity sake, these men truly believe they’re living in an apocalypse. Then again they probably used to be until roughly 30 minutes ago. I don't know anymore. 

"If you've got any wood and tools I'll fix it the best I can" Glenn said looking genuinely sorry. I give Glenn a sharp nod before looking back at Rick and Abraham. 

"See. All better- now you won't have to worry so much about the walkers." Rick spoke as he strode past me towards the door. I took a few deep breaths before continuing the aggravating conversation any further. A better argument coming to mind.

"Right, if you would all go back into the other room I'd like to show you all something else." I spin on my heel and march off back towards the kitchen and grab a few things which will prove to them that they are not in the middle of an apocalypse. I can't help but let out an exasperated sigh. Although something in my gut is telling me that they're all telling the truth about previously being in an apocalypse, especially after the very small chat with Carol but every sense of logic is screaming at me otherwise. I need to smoke, it would take the edge off. I go back to the hallway after setting down the few things I had in my hand onto the counter and grab my bag and pull out my things. Slipping on my slippers which I had left downstairs from this morning I walk back into the dining room I see Daryl with a plastic bag he must of grabbed from the kitchen, picking up all the pieces of glass. "what are you doing?" Although it was obviously clear what he was doing I couldn't help but ask.

"Figured since I did it I should clear it all up." Daryl said glancing over at me over his shoulder before getting back to picking up the bits of glass.

"How did you do it? It's a double glazed door so it must have been pretty hard to smash." I could see a small smile on his lips but as quickly as it was there, it was gone. As he spoke I started to roll myself a cigarette. 

"Used a metal rod, then my elbow. Weren't that hard." There was something about the way he was talking that made me want to punch him. Not too hard, but hard enough to get him back for making it sound so easy to break the door.

"Yea well, don't boast about it okay." I walked over to him and handed him the cigarette, the one for myself was in my other hand. Putting the tobacco, rizzlers and filters in my dressing gown pocket. 

"I ain’t, just sayin." He looked down at the cigarette that I held out to him. "Thanks… it ain’t drugs is it? Why's it brown?” he said looking down at the cigarette in my hand.

“It's a fag, tobacco. You should know, don’t you smoke? And it's brown because I'm using liquorice rizzlers.”

“How'd you know I smoke?" He stood up from his bent over position the cigarette in one hand and the bag of glass in the other. Looking at me very suspiciously. 

"Just a guess." I shrugged, silently cursing myself for saying anything. I can’t tell him ‘Oh, cause I saw you smoke a few times on the show’. 

"Pfft. Woman, ya ain't half strange." 

"How so?" I ask, stepping past him out of the door and started to light the cigarette in my mouth. He followed and stood beside me, the bag of glass now next to the door.

"Well you come down dressed like that" he gestured up and down my body. I raised an eyebrow at him before stepping towards him to light his cigarette. Looking into his eyes whilst I flicked the lighter, sparking a little flame to life. Keeping my eyes on his the whole time as he leaned in to light the cigarette in his mouth, his eyes also never leaving mine. I stepped back slightly, inhaling a large amount of smoke before blowing it back out of my lungs. I knew I was flirting with Daryl but I couldn't help it. The guy was hot… but he didn't half need a damn shower. "And then you start goin' on about callin' the damned police-"

"Which any normal person would do-"

"But you didn't, they ain't here."

"True. Carry on, what else makes me strange." There was a pause before he finally spoke. Puffing out a smoke ring which actually looked pretty impressive.

"Then you start fighting and you're like some kind of karate expert-"

"It's taekwondo." I replied nonchalantly, flicking my fag lightly to get rid of the growing amount of ash at the end of it.

"Whatever, where did you learn that anyway? Weren't no armature shit- I've only seen crap like that in movies." Part of me wanted to giggle at that part. Was he trying to compliment me?

"I went to lessons throughout high school and college but stopped during university. I still practiced because it was a good exercise to keep to."

"So what do ya do then? Coach or somethin'?" He said shifting slightly so he was facing my direction more instead of just looking straight ahead. His gaze looked like he was analysing me.

"Special forces." I turn away from him and glance at him from the corner of my eye. The corners of my lips tugged up in a slight smile, it was fun to tease. He didn't look convinced though, just raised one eyebrow as if to signify ‘yea right’. "Only joking. I'm a nurse." 

He let out a small, barely audible chuckle and said "what? You beat people up and then fix em?" 

"Yep, that's right. So watch it Pookie." internally freezing immediately. What have I just done? Another mistake. Only Carol calls him that, it’s her nickname for him. Daryl didn’t seem to notice my hesitation as he was looking back into the house, his expression unreadable.

“The hell is it with women and callin’ me that name. It on my forehead or somethin’ or did Carol tell ya to call me that?” He mumbled roughly. “Bloody pookie… can’t think of anything else? Maybe somethin’ a little more manly?” His gaze was still fixed on the house.

I let out a small but fake chuckle, that was close… so more people called him that apart from Carol? “You just look like a ‘Pookie’” I teased. I need to watch what I say, I can’t appear to know too much or that will just get me into more shit with these people. Daryl didn’t look too impressed by my remark and threw the rest of his fag, which wasn’t much at all, on the ground. “Well I need to prove to the rest of your… urm.. group.. gang?” I paused slightly but carried on anyway, not entirely sure how I should address them all as I was about to make yet another slip up and say something stupid like ‘family’.- I know they aren’t actually related but they consider themselves a family unit right? I’m not sure what response that would get but I’m not willing to risk it. Some of them might be acting slightly nice towards me but these people are dangerous. Massively so. Flashes of Rick biting off part of that man’s throat in season 4 came to mind. “Well.. that they are here… in England. Why do you believe me so easily anyway?” Daryl looked up at this and took a moment to respond.

“Guess after everythin’... in some ways I’m prayin for it to be true… but then again… I’m not.” My mind went straight to thoughts of Beth and I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of guilt. Beth was dead in the series, she died in the mid-season finale. But to these people, she was still very much alive and still trapped in their world. A world filled with nothing but fear and death. 

“Well, come on then, we need to get back to the others” I threw my finished fag on the floor and stepped back into the house

 

****

 

After a further tiring 10 minutes of shouting, threats and fruit. Yes, fruit… I managed to convince the group residing in my lounge that they were in England and that there was no apocalypse by showing them bananas and other tropical fruits which were impossible to obtain unless living in the right environment. Or more importantly, couldn’t have without trade and supermarkets. Although a lot of them looked initially happy to be finally free from their cursed lives back in their world, they looked almost empty. Sad, guilt ridden. Probably because of the amount of people, loved ones they had lost on the way… and because Beth wasn’t with them, to them- she was lost forever. 

Rick’s hands were covering his face, he was sitting on the arm of the 3 seater beige leather sofa next to Carl who was holding Judith. Her cries had stopped now and she was content for the moment with being bobbed up and down on Carl’s leg. Although they were both extremely dirty they looked, to some extent, healthy. But definitely underweight. They all did. “So are you going to answer some of our questions now?.. Just so we can clear some of this up.” Rick asked as he looked up from his hands. 

“Yes.. go on.” I spoke letting out a little sigh. 

“What year is it?” 

“2014” At that his eyebrows furrowed together. Obviously the time line in the show wasn’t entirely on par with the real world so I wasn’t sure what year it was in the show. Everyone in the room apart from myself and Judith looked confused at this. “New world, different year right?”

“It appears so.” Eugene mumbled. 

“Now… how about you guys… wash or something. I have two bathrooms.. so you’d have to take turns but I’m going to give priority to the children here.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea” Carol said. I could tell that I had been partly forgiven for my slip up in the kitchen and that carol was trying to help me in getting the group to calm the hell down. “What do you think Rick?” There was a pause where Rick said nothing, no one did. He was still trying to analyse me. Although I don't think I really blame them after what happened at terminus. 

“Yeah, okay” Rick finally muttered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and reviews? Let me know what you think. :)


	5. Regrets and mistakes

After I had found up every towel in the house, excluding my own and Fatma’s, I gave them to Rick and his group. They’d still have to share though as there were just too many of them. For once I was actually grateful that both me and Fatma had big families that felt more than welcome to impose on us. The amount of bedding, towels and such that we had accumulated because of those visits really payed off now. Although, this year's visit would probably have to be put off. 

Whilst some of the gang were getting cleaned up I went upstairs to my room to sort out my neck. Rick’s blade didn’t look clean and the last thing I needed now was an infection. The cut itself wasn’t too deep and it missed all the vital bits but it still bloody hurt. I had already taken some ibuprofen, an anti-inflammatory to help with the swelling but it was still damn sore but the main thing on my mind was what the hell am I going to tell Fatma. There is still the possibility that these guys may not be genuine… but if they really are then this could cause a whole load of other issues.

Like the walker virus. What if it came here? Or I’m now somehow infected? Was the fucker an airborne thing? God damnit. There were so many unanswered questions and worst of all I knew that dumb ass Eugene was lying about knowing the cure. Maybe if I took a blood sample from one of them and got Stephany, from the lab to look at it she might be able to find something? But what if something happened and it spread and then… Thinking about it too much wouldn’t help. There were a million ‘what ifs’ in this scenario. Like what if this was all a giant joke. That was still a possibility right? I knew in my heart though... somehow, that they weren’t lying. I let out a heavy sigh and rubbed my temples. This is not how I imagined my night to turn out. 

Oh shit. Fatma. Looking at the clock the time is 8:30. “Oh shit!” I went to grab my phone from the dresser, there were already 3 missed calls and a dozen texts from both Josh and Fatma. 

Fatma (20:04): Hey, I’m already here with Josh. We’re downstairs at the normal table. Lol xx  
Fatma (20:10) Missed call.  
Fatma (20:10): Where are you??   
Fatma (20:11): Call me  
Fatma (20:13): You are coming right?  
Josh (20:14) Missed call  
Josh (20:14) Oi, pick up.  
Fatma (20:16) Julie where are you???  
Fatma (20:19) Missed call

It went on from there and the texts got angrier. “Ah, bugger.” I went to open the messages to form some kind of response. What that was I still didn’t know. I couldn’t just say ‘Hey, I can’t come out the walking dead characters are all here and I can’t leave them on their own because they’ll probably start another apocalypse or steal all my food.’ Nope. That wouldn’t work. My phone vibrated causing me to nearly drop it. It was Fatma.

Fatma (20:32) Since you’ve not been answering and Tom isn’t here yet, Josh has given Tom our address. He’ll be there in 5. Be ready.

Julie (20:32): Are you fucking serious??? I’m not ready!! Had giant problem at home. Cancel!

Fatma (20:33) Don’t believe you. Get ready.

I let out a small scream and grabbed my makeup bag which I had thankfully taken out of the bathroom upstairs before Carl had gone in. I got out my foundation and emptied a rather large amount to put on my neck. This was such a bad idea. Looking into the small mirror on my dresser I applied the foundation to the wound. Mother of god, it hurt- stung. Like a complete bitch. I let out another silent scream and slammed my hand on the dresser, knocking over some of my things.

Once it was covered I wiped my hands on the towel I used earlier, sprayed on some deodorant and perfume and put on the black dress Fatma mentioned earlier that day when my life was actually normal. My heels were already in my room so I shoved them on too. My hair was a bit of a mess still so I ran my hand through it to tidy it as much as I could. 

I heard the doorbell go from downstairs and cursed loudly. I still didn’t have any lipstick on but at this point I really didn’t care. There was some in my handbag. I ran out of my room and practically jumped my way down the stairs, only in doing so I managed to smack myself with my bag in the chest. Of course this had to be witnessed by Abraham, Rosita, Maggie, Michonne, Glenn, Daryl and Carol who had all gathered in the hallway probably because of the ominous doorbell. Christ. 

“Looking good” Abraham chuckled, obviously impressed with my ability to hit myself nearly in the face.

Ignoring him I said “Go in the living room will you” waving my arms. “Go on, shoo.” They all looked surprisingly taken aback by the fact that I was trying to herd them into the lounge like animals. Well, truth be told they smelt no better than animals. 

“Why, who is it?” Michonne asked, going for her katana. 

“Woooow, stop! No weapons! Definitely not needed!” I mock whispered, putting my hands on Michonne’s arm and then abruptly took them off again at the look she gave me. “It’s my date- a guy. Harmless. Entirely harmless. Plus, I’m just going to tell him to wait in the car.” I rambled, arms waving around again. A habit I really need to stop. I got a mixture of responses from all of them, all of which were against the idea of me going anywhere. The doorbell rang again. “Guys, please-”

“I think we should check this with Rick first” Glenn said to no one in particular. 

“Guys, it’s my house- my rules, get in the damn living room and I’ll come back in a second to discuss this with you further.” This seemed to get them to move, although I could tell they didn’t like it. Well tough, neither did I. 

“You look good by the way” Rosita said, smiling and giving me a small wink, before following Abraham into the living room.

“Thanks” I said, returning the smile. Making sure that they were all inside and that the living room door was closed, I turned towards the front door and went to open it for the second time tonight. The guy standing on my porch was already half way down the drive. “Hey, it’s Tom right?” The guy turned around, clear blue eyes focusing on mine. 

“Yeah, that’s me. And you’re Julie, right?”

“Um- y-yes that’s me.” I could hear the stutter in my voice and inwardly cringed. “Look I’m running a little late so um-” He had already walked back and was now right in front of me. His thick dark hair shone in the artificial porch light, which looked black but could have also passed as a very dark brown. He was also rather slim and very tall, probably around 6ft something because he was still taller than me with my heels on. “Look, I’m not entirely ready yet- I need to do something quickly, can you just wait for a bit. I’m sorry.” 

“Yeah, sure. What do you need to do? You look ready to me.” He said, giving me a once over with a dazzling toothy smile. Cheeky arsehole.

“Urm, I need to- uh… I need to feed my cat.” Inwardly cringing again, I nodded slowly. “Yep, I need to feed him. He - er, wouldn’t come in earlier.”

“You have a cat? That’s great, I love cats! Can I see him?” 

“No! Urm, I mean- He doesn’t like new people.” Tom looked quite disappointed by this but at this moment I didn’t care. He could not come in. Not with those guys lurking inside. Trust me to come up with a crap lie to have it thrown in my face immediately. Maybe I should have said I needed to change a tampon. Then he probably wouldn’t have been so keen to come in and see the kitty. 

“Oh right- I’ll just wait in the car then.” Tom flashed me a smile and a small wave that motioned to the car.

“That’d be great, thanks.” Tom then turned and walked back up the drive, I didn’t wait to see him get into his car but quickly returned inside and shut the door. Only to bump into a cleaner looking Rick. “Holy shit!” I yelped.

“Who was that?” Rick almost growled. Thankfully Rick didn’t smell as bad as he had in our first encounter. He was wearing some of Josh’s clothes but still definitely needed to brush his damn teeth. I could feel him trying to corner me again and quickly dodged out of the way.

“My date.” I said bluntly. Not that I needed to explain myself to him or anyone at all, but I now had no clue what to do. Tom was waiting outside and I had a house full of emotionally unstable, unpredictable- not to mention dangerous, individuals. Ah, life is great. “Can we talk about this in the living room with the others?” Rick nodded and gestured for me to go ahead of him. What a dick head. After entering the living room all the eyes in the room land on me and Rick. “Hey… everyone” My hand gives out an involuntary small wave. “So, before you guys all came for tea, I was supposed to be going on a date tonight. And that’s kind of difficult now.”

“What, you want us to apologize to ya?” Daryl said in almost disbelief. 

“No.” I said sharply. “I just mean that know I have no idea what to do, I can’t just leave you guys here on your own, but the guy is outside in this car waiting for me.”

“What did you tell him?” Michonne said calmly.

“That I needed to feed my cat.” I shrugged, as if to say- that’s the best I could come up with.

“You have a cat?” Eugene asked in what seemed to be genuine interest.

“What?- No? Look you’re missing the point here-”

“So let me get this straight” Rick blurted in. “You’re asking us for permission to go on this date of yours?” His hands were resting on his hips and he was giving me one of his irritated looks.

“Like hell I am!” I practically shouted. “Look, I’m not the only person who lives here. My housemate, Fatma, also lives here and is waiting for me at the bar with her boyfriend. She will come here with guns blazing if I don’t turn up. Plus, I think it might be easier to explain the situation once she has had a few drinks. She’s a nice drunk.” Maybe ‘guns blazing’ wasn’t the right phrase to use in this situation. They all look at each other as if trying to communicate with eye contact alone.

“What have you got?” Rick asks with that menacing tone again- the one that says ‘mess with me and I’ll bite out a chunk in your neck’. Remembering that last episode in season 4 made me shiver. 

“What do you mean?” I ask- genuinely confused. I must resemble a deer in headlights or something because Carol jumps in. 

“He means weapons. Do you have any?” This makes me laugh quite a bit for obvious reasons which anyone would understand if they lived in England.

“You do realise you’re in England right? It’s practically impossible to own a gun here. So the answer to that is nothing, apart from a few kitchen knives that have seen better days. But you guys can check- just be careful with the china.” There are a few moments of complete silence where it seems the group are mulling it over. “Did you guys get the washing machine working okay?” 

“Yea we did. But we couldn’t find your dryer.” Maggie said. 

“That would be due to me not owning a dryer. Although, the heating is on, use the radiators to dry the clothes.” 

“Oh, okay thanks. We will.” 

“So if I leave you guys here will you promise me to behave and not go anywhere or do anything stupid?” I felt very conscious about how long this was all taking and if I didn’t leave sooner or later Tom would be knocking on the door again. 

 

**********************

It hadn’t taken too much longer to convince everyone that I wasn't going to bring a giant group back with me to exterminate them all. After a much heated debate over trust issues from both sides we all finally decided that I shouldn’t go. Which is exactly why I’m in Tom’s car now. We came to an…. arrangement that I would be back by 11:00pm latest with or without Fatma. Whilst they, stayed out of mine and Fatma’s rooms and washed themselves with free access to the kitchen and all my food. There wasn’t enough male clothing to go around and nothing I had would fit Abraham, Tyreese or Eugene but I kitted mainly everyone in clean clothes, Josh’s and my own- if I used Fatma’s she would kill me. But of course Daryl refused to comply- I just hoped he’d have a goddamn shower. If for not his own sake but everyone else’s. 

For safe measures I locked both mine and Fatma’s doors and made sure that our computers were safely inside. The last thing I wanted was for them to discover somehow that they were a bloody TV show. That would definitely go down well, assuming that they were telling the truth. Tom had looked very pissed off when I finally got in the car and had rudely asked if I had anymore cat troubles. The annoying thing was that he was actually quite the looker- no Brad Pitt but good looking enough to be above average looking. Big blue eyes, dark long eyelashes which didn’t look too feminine and a great pair of lips. Did I also mention his cheekbones? Because they were on par with Benedict Cumberbatch’s but to add insult to injury, he actually seemed quite nice. Passive aggressiveness aside. I’d hate to toot Fatma’s whistle but she’d done very well in finding more than a ‘half decent guy’ for this blind date. We sat in the car in silence whilst Tom drove us into the city. 

“Thanks by the way, for giving me the lift.” I said, trying to break the silence and awkwardness in the air.

“That’s okay.” He didn’t say anything after that but looked on ahead. I know what I did was pretty shitty leaving him waiting but what else could I do? A few minutes later he said “What’s his name?”

“What? Who?” For one horrible minute I thought he had seen Rick lurking behind the door somehow or even seen someone through the window, even through the netting that me and Fatma had up for privacy.

“Your cat.” 

“Oh, my cat. His name is... ah, Merlin.“ As if he would ask for the damn cat’s name. I hoped he didn’t notice the hesitation too much or thought anything about it. I’d had cats in the past so it wasn’t too hard to pretend but I perhaps I should stay as close to the truth as possible. My old cat’s name was Merlin and I had him whilst I was in high school. When I was 12, me and my oldest sister went out and bought him on a whim and came home one day with all the cat stuff and him. My parents went nuts but he was an adorable little thing. However, with him the phrase ‘curiosity killed the cat’ was him down to a T. In the end it was literally true. I was heartbroken when Merlin died. As I was deep in my thoughts I didn’t hear Tom speak. “What?” 

“I said that’s a cool name.”

“Oh, thanks.”

I didn’t speak for the rest of the journey and neither did Tom. This was going to be a very long night. One I couldn’t wait to see the end of.

 

*************************

Daryl had been many things over the last two or so years but he had never been this confused and damn right lost for words as he was now. Even when he thought he’d lost everyone from the prison, even after he had lost Beth he had something to say about it. He had a purpose, whereas now he truly was lost on what to do with himself. Daryl was standing outside the back in the poor excuse for a back garden that Julie had called a courtyard. Carol was also with him, looking around for some kind of clue on how the hell they all got here. What was this? Some kind of damn fairy tale ending? 

It wasn’t that Daryl wanted to go back to being shot at by arseholes and be on the menu for some dead fucker but there was more back there than just that shit. Something that everyone had been thinking about; Beth. She was alive and he could feel it. He just needed to get back so he could rescue her from the arseholes who’d taken her and then maybe he could find some way back to peachy pea England, in this world and have a relaxing life eating pie and drinking beer. But right now he just needed to get back with or without the others. 

“Daryl, can I have a word?” Rick’s voice startled Daryl from his thoughts. “You too Carol.”

“Go on then” Daryl replied, already knowing what this was about. If what that chick Julie had said had been right, then why was she so willing to believe them? Why hadn’t she called the cops because a band of crazy people had broken into her house? Then again, everything seemed so normal here and Daryl was finding it harder and harder to believe that they weren’t in some new world or shit. Hell, he’d just been thinking about finding a way back. Rick and Carol’s voices pulled him out of his thoughts again.

“So you’re saying we shouldn’t trust her?” Carol said calmly. Daryl wasn’t happy about what Rick had done to Carol, sending her away, but she seemed to have forgiven him quick enough. He was just glad that it could be put behind them and that they could move on to more important things. Like what to do with Julie. 

“What?” Daryl grunted. 

“I don’t like her or this. I can’t explain it either so we’re going to have to keep an eye on Julie and whoever else she brings. To be on the safe side I want everyone to be ready for anything when she gets back.” Daryl nodded along with what Rick said. Rick had his right to be concerned after everything. Truth be told, Daryl felt a lot of respect for him after all the shit Rick had gone through and was very glad that he was a part of his family, Rick always tried to do right by them. 

“So what are you suggesting?” Carol asked, her arms crossed over her chest. Daryl noted that Carol hadn’t taken a shower yet as she was still dirty looking.

“That we should be ready for a fight when she gets back or get out of here while we can. Who knows who’ll she’ll bring with her. She could be working with terminus- we don’t know if they’re dead. This could be a set up. Daryl, you said it yourself this morning that you thought we were being watched last night.” Rick’s voice was beginning to get rougher and louder as he became more angry as he spoke in his no-longer hushed tone.

“It was more of what I felt than anything else. It could’ve been an animal or somethin’.” 

“But what if it weren’t?” Rick’s eyes were firmly set on Daryl’s making him slightly uncomfortable. Daryl had already thought it over in great detail, he knew exactly what else it could be and none of them were good news.

“I think we should stay until Julie gets back but be ready to make a run for it if there is trouble. I could scout the area to make sure it is safe and so we know what we’re facing while the rest of us clear the cupboards. You know.” Daryl shrugged. 

“I agree. We need to rest, eat and a lot of us could do with a wash.” Carol said looking at Daryl teasingly, her nose scrunched up in mock disgust. Daryl knew that she would back him up no matter what he said. For that he was grateful.

“What’s up?” They all turned to find Michonne with a giant tub of ice cream, pecan flavoured, spooning out giant spoonfuls and trying to make it fit in her mouth. Beside her was Carl, also with a spoon although, his was empty. It was his voice that they had heard but it was obvious that they had both been at the ice cream as it was all around Carl’s mouth and Michonne was practically shovelling it down. 

 

***************************

 

If I had thought the car journey over to the bar was awkward, it was nothing compared to now. After the painful journey to The Workshop in Tom’s car, we both entered the busy pub. If it could be called that. The Workshop was one of those places which could classified as a number of things, it was a cafe during the day, it sold extremely tasty, homemade food at lunch and in the evenings, and sold a vast range of alcohol. So basically a rather sophisticated pub with restaurant-like services with poor lighting. It also had quite a quirky rustic theme to it. As we entered we could see the bar, either side of us there were a mixture of different styled sofas with little coffee tables dotted around them, sitting on the tables were old rustic lamps that didn’t give off a lot of light. The room itself was rather dim, regardless of the vast number of light fixtures hanging from the ceiling and walls. 

“Well this is… cosy,” I heard Tom say. 

“You’ve never been here before?” I ask, not really surprised as it isn’t a very well-known place but it’s a gem. Although, the main reason it looks and feels so busy is because of how small it is. 

“No. But it seems alright.” I can see Tom eying up the old, battered grand piano next to the stairs leading downstairs with a slight interest.

“Do you play?” There were a few moments of silence before Tom silently shook his head. “How about we go find Fatma and Josh, after that we can get drinks?” Tom looked up at me and gave me a breathtakingly dreamy smile, one that I was already starting to give me small butterflies in my stomach. 

“Sure. They downstairs?” He said whilst scanning the room filled with people, as if one of them would jump out and wave us over. I nodded and walked ahead towards the stairs, through the crowd and past a few full and quite noisy tables. The stairs down are rather steep and rather difficult to walk down in the heels I’m wearing which probably makes me look like quite a fool but I get down them gracefully enough and spot Fatma and Josh almost instantly.

“Finally!” Fatma shouts at us both. “We were starting to think you two weren’t going to show!” I give Fatma a look to try to shut her up. 

“There were cat troubles.” Tom says as we both sit down opposite Fatma and Josh at the table next to Fatma’s favourite piece of art within The Workshop. An ink painting of a man and a woman dressed in 18th Century clothing, the woman is kneeling by the man’s feet looking up at him adoringly, whilst the man, who is standing directly beside her has his dick out. An enormous, oversized and very much exaggerated penis which seems to take up the whole of the man’s body. Only ending at his chin. I can see Tom ogling the painting in what looked like half disbelief and half amusement.

“What cat? We don- Ow!” From where I was sitting I was able to step on fatma’s foot hard, causing her to yelp and thankfully shut her up. Only to get a sharp kick to the shin in return which brought tears to my eyes.

“I was feeding Merlin. I forgot to.” I managed to get out relatively normally without sounding like I was experiencing any pain. Fatma gave me a confused look which lasted around 5 seconds before she decided to just go along with this blatant lie. I turned back to Tom to see him looking directly at me, as if uncertain what to believe as I clearly wasn’t subtle enough. “So Tom, what do you think about Fatma’s favourite painting?” Gesturing to the painting next to me with a small head movement. 

“Her Favourite?”

“Well, you know Tommy. She likes being reminded what awaits her back at my place.” Josh laughed, raising his eyebrows in a crude manner and slapping Tom on the arm jokingly. 

“Haha! Yea right! Isn’t your shoe size only a 9?” Tom laughed heartedly. “And we all know what they say about a man’s shoe size.” Tom lifted his pinky and smirked at Josh. Which made both me and Fatma laugh loudly. In response, Josh thumped him hard on the shoulder.

“Cheeky git. Well it doesn’t apply here.” Josh said, looking a bit bashful. I had just assumed that Tom was one of Fatma’s friends that I had never met. Although, now I felt stupid for thinking that when it was so clearly obvious that Tom was actually one of Josh’s chums. “How about we get some drinks? What do you want ladies?” 

“A double of Jack and coke, thanks Hun.” Fatma said, giving Josh a small kiss on the cheek. “For the record, although your dick is big- it isn’t that big!” Fatma laughed again and winked at Josh which earnt a cheeky smile from him. 

“I’ll have the same. Thanks.” 

After a few rounds and a lot of flirting later, the boys got up again to get the third round of drinks. Tom had parked in one of those overnight carparks and we had both agreed that we should enjoy the night and get a taxi home. Little did he know; we’d be getting separate taxis. Or maybe he had already assumed that. Who knows. I waited until the boys had left for the drinks before I said anything to Fatma, I wanted her at least a little tipsy before I spoke to her about the mess I had found myself in. “I need to speak to you about something really important.” I said whilst looking at the empty glass in my hand.

“What happened?” I could see the concern in Fatma’s eyes. 

“Well, it’s a long story.” I say grimly. Time was already getting on. It was already past 10 and I had to allow at least half an hour for the journey home on top of booking a cab, to make things worse the wound on my neck was really starting to sting again. I had had the car journey here to think about what to tell Fatma but didn’t come up with much, only that I should try to get her to go home with Josh like we had planned earlier. “But, in short; the back door is broken.”  
“What?! How?!” 

“Well- don’t panic! It’s being fixed-”

“Someone’s already there? Alone? Are you kidding me? Why didn’t you just pick up your phone earlier and tell me or better yet tell me when you first came in?!” 

“It was, complicated-” 

“I would have come home, Julie!” I let out a loud sigh and put my head in my hands. This was not going well. But I couldn’t surprise her with everything at once so I thought the door was the best thing to bring up and deal with now. “Julie, what on earth happened to your neck?” I touched the area of my neck that Rick had cut lightly with my fingertips. It was bleeding again. 

“It’s a long story.”

“Did someone break in? Julie! Look at me!” I looked up at her. I felt tired, it was all too much in one day, especially after work. I just wanted to go home to an empty house, kick off my shoes and hide under my bed covers. “What happened?” 

“Just, leave it. I’ll tell you tomorrow.” Time to leave. I’m sure Tom won’t mind too much and even if he does… it doesn’t matter. I reach for my handbag, one hand covering my neck whilst getting up and turning around to the stairs, I can hear Fatma also standing up from her chair, calling my name but I ignore her. This was all a big mistake.

“Julie, you’re not going anywhere yet. Not without telling me.” I can feel her tight grasp on my wrist. I try to shake her off, and walk faster to the stairs but she is still right behind me. “Julie, hang on a second!”

“Whoa!” I was so caught up in getting out I ran straight into Tom coming back with the drinks with Josh behind him and now one of the two he was carrying was on me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you- hey, are you okay?” Tom said. Both he and Josh looked at me worriedly, obviously noticing the blood. 

“It’s fine- I’m fine. I just need to use the bathroom.” I raced up the stairs with Fatma close behind me. I could hear her shouting down to Josh that she’d be back in bit or something like that. I wasn’t really paying attention to where my footsteps were taking me but walked through the door to the girl’s toilets anyway and towards the sinks. Leaning on the counter I could feel a hand on my lower back. I could see in the mirror Fatma’s concerned expression but a worried Fatma was as bad as an angry Fatma. She obviously wasn’t drunk enough.

“Julie, what’s going on?” Fatma said gently. I could tell that she was struggling to not freak out, she had never been a ‘cool headed’ individual. Even at work, at the hospital, she was well known for her temper which had more than once gotten her into trouble. However, over the years of living together and studying together, she’d learnt that getting angry didn’t do anything with me, like her, I was also one known for being rather hot headed.

“You’re going to think I’m crazy.”

“I won’t, I promise.”

“Before I say anymore, I need you to listen to me entirely before you interrupt, promise?” That earnt me a ‘Are you actually being fucking serious?’ look. “Promise?” I repeated. 

“Yes. Yes. Okay, now shoot.” Fatma said with her arms crossed above her chest.

Roughly 10 minutes and a wide eyed Fatma later, I had finished explaining. Well, the best I could anyway. I had made sure to mention that I did believe that these people were who they said they were although Fatma still needed some convincing. 

“Are you shitting with me right now?” Fatma half shouted. 

“No.” I wobbled my bottom lip between my teeth out of a nervous habit. Fatma looked red in the face and ready to explode. “But if it helps, I wish I was.” I gave her my best apologetic smile. 

“Right, we’re going home.” she said decidedly, pulling out her iphone. Punching numbers in her screen to unlock it. 

“What are you doing?” I said nervously.

“Calling the damn police like you should have done hours ago.” Fatma hissed at me. “I can’t even look at you right now, you fucking idiot.” I snatched the phone off her before she could finish dialling. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Listen to me Fatma-”

“No, I’m done listening. There are actual psychos in our house which you’ve let ransack the place! There probably isn’t one valuable item left!” 

“I haven’t! If you’d trust me for half a second and do as I say, then you’ll see-” I felt the slap as it collided with the left side of my face before I saw it. I was always such a lightweight when it came to alcohol. Remember the stupid thing I talked about earlier? Well this is it. Telling Fatma the truth and expecting her to act like a calm and rational adult. At least Fatma had half the decency to look half guilty about slapping me. 

With a final look, I spun on my feet and left the bathroom, walking through the bar and out. After 5 minutes of walking along the dark and cold road, a taxi passed me which I managed to flag down. Within another 30 minutes I was outside mine and Fatma’s house. There weren’t any police there, which was a good sign but I didn’t doubt that Fatma was on her way either, probably with Josh and maybe even Tom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, what do you guys think? Julie is doing a very poor job at controlling the situation, and making a few ill-judged decisions. In relation to Tom, I was kind of going for a Colin Morgan look. He is hot after all, but more like the older version without the beard but the longer dark hair- similar to him in Humans but cleaner and with better clothes. Anyhoo… I hope you guys enjoyed and leave a comment or a review on what you think was good/bad etc. The next chapter shall be up soon. :)


	6. The Truth is a Bitch

Bob was sitting in Julie’s lounge staring at the blaring TV. Some English news broadcaster talking about the local weather and some village celebrating their church being 650 years old with a festival in the grounds. He was ecstatic, boring news was his favourite type of news. They were finally free- free from the dead, free from the never ending countdown that, when reaching 0 would only end up with him being on his own. He was never going to be alone again. None of them were. Sasha was currently squished between him and Tyreese who was holding Judith on one of Julie’s three seater sofas. When they had first heard the news from Glenn about the obviously-somehow-magical-yet-not-magical transformation of the backyard they were all very confused. Hell, they still were. It wasn’t something you really heard of apart from in books and films, a mere fantasy. Especially now and for some reason, some beautiful unknown reason, they had been chosen. Bob stretched out on the sofa and wrapped an arm around Sasha, planting a kiss on her cheek in the process. 

“What was that for?” Sasha smiled up at him.

“Just happy, that’s all.” Returning her smile tenfold. Sasha sunk into his embrace, her head resting on his shoulder, her smile fading on her lips.

“How can you be sure? How do you know that this isn’t all a weird, messed up dream or someone’s sick idea of a joke? Or that the next door we walk through we’ll be back… or someplace worse?” Sasha whispered. Bob waited a while before answering, it wasn’t as if it hadn’t crossed his mind already.

“We don’t.” He said simply, a smile still lingering as he looked down at her. He lowered his head as Sasha raised hers, meeting in a kiss. 

“I’ll be super pissed if it is.” Tyreese finally says, breaking the intimate moment between the two of them. Both Bob and Sasha hum in agreement.

“I don’t know what’s worse anymore, not knowing or being faced with the reality that we got out.” Maggie says from the other side of the room next to Glenn, her legs curled up underneath her on the sofa. “Beth… I’ll never get to know what happened to her… while we’re just sitting here.” Her face scrunches up in emotion, unable to speak anymore, shaking her head with fresh tears streaking down her face and looking down at her lap. 

Glenn’s arm tightens around her. “Hey, Beth’s strong. Maybe she got out, maybe the same happened to her and she’s somewhere around here.” As Glenn spoke from beside Maggie, he knew it was extremely unlikely that Beth was here too. The others may still have their doubts but Glenn knew, not by just the physical signs but also the feeling in his gut. They weren’t in Georgia anymore. Maggie just nodded and started playing with her wedding ring, twisting it around her finger as she always did when she felt frustrated. 

Michonne entered the room with Carl not far behind her looking clean and refreshed, a lot of them had already cleaned up and had taken a shower. Herself, Judith, Carl, Tyreese, Maggie and Glenn included. “Daryl and Carol are going to do a scope of the area to have a look at what we’re facing here. While they do that we have to clear the cupboards and get ready for either a fight or a quick escape if we need one, maybe even both.” Michonne says with her hands crossed over her chest, leaning with her back on the wall.

“Is that really necessary?” Glenn replies.

“Which bit?” 

“Clearing out all the cupboards. Julie has put up with a lot of shit from us, especially from Rick. Should we really rock the boat any further?”

“We need supplies.” Michonne says candidly. 

“Glenn has got a point.” Bob joins in. “What if it’s all the truth? Should we really alienate our only ally in this…” Bob paused for a moment, as if looking for the right word. “…this new world?” Tyreese, Maggie and Glenn all nod in agreement. 

“What? Julie is our ally now?” Sasha says in half disbelief, staring at Bob.

“She could be if we make her one” Bob declared. Looking around at all of them in turn and resting on Sasha. “Taking all of her supplies would be wrong. We should only take what we need.” 

“Fine, that’s what we’ll do then.” Carl spoke out, being quiet to watch the debate until now.  
___________________________________________________________________________ 

Daryl had initially planned to go on his own but after Carol insisted that they go together, didn’t put up a fuss to decline Carol’s presence. She was just as good as him now and had more than proved to him and the rest of the group that she could do well in a fight. Hell, Daryl was more than impressed with how far Carol had come, her transformation into a badass had been great to watch. Not that he had agreed with her killing Karen and that other guy back at the prison but he understood her logistics of it all. Before they had left Julie’s place they had decided to very quickly wash up just in case they were seen by anyone who wasn’t a threat. Daryl didn’t really see the point as he’d only become dirty again pretty soon. 

There was one thing that both Daryl and Carol had already noticed about this place and that was that it was freezing. It had been the latter half of summer back when they were in their ‘world’ but this felt like the depths of winter. Just the night before the temperature had been uncomfortably warm. Carol had to borrow one of the coats in the under stairs cupboards although nothing that Julie owned would fit Daryl, his arms too thick with muscle and his shoulders too broad. He hadn’t even tried the girly stuff and outright refused when Carol suggested that he should do, both Julie and assuming her housemate too were slender anyway if he had their clothes to judge by. Plus, whatever man was in Julie’s or the other chick’s life was built like a twig. Daryl felt himself shudder again, he was freezing his bits off and they hadn’t even been out that long. 

“You alright.” Carol asked, obviously noticing Daryl shudder. They were only just down the road, roughly 8 houses down from Julie’s. It was quiet and the street lamps were lighting the area nicely, it had been a long time since they had seen the luxury of street lamps. 

“Yea, just cold.” Daryl spoke, trying to thwart another shiver. It must have been below 32°F easy. They kept walking down the road, constantly looking around them for any signs of danger.

“Looks like we need to get you a coat Pooky.” Carol gave him a playful nudge but Daryl just wrapped his leather jacket around him tighter. 

“You need to stop callin’ me that. Don’t know what ya said to Julie but she started callin’ me that too” he grunted. 

“What do you mean?” Carol asked with a puzzled expression on her face although she didn’t take her eyes off her surroundings.

“She called me that damn name you gave me, thought you told her to call me that to cheer her up or somethin’.” Carol looked positively puzzled and shook her head. “Pfft. Forget it.”

“Bit weird.” Carol put her hands in her pockets, one of which was where she kept her knife, a hand gun hidden in the back of her jeans. They and Rick had decided to hide any weapons on them just in case they came into contact with anyone who was a threat but to everyone else they seemed harmless. Daryl probably less so. Let’s face it, he didn’t look like a law abiding citizen, even if he was or at least used to be. 

Daryl just grunted in agreement. They were nearing the end of the road and could hear traffic. It was… odd, unbelievable hearing the sounds of multiple cars and even a siren. Daryl and Carol exchanged a look and sprinted the rest of the way, coming to a busy main road. “The fuck?” Daryl gasped. 

“It’s like… it never even happened. None of it.” Carol whispered, eyes wide. The sight of one or two other people walking down the pavements, one with a dog. “While we were living a nightmare they didn’t have any of it.” There were unshed tears in her eyes and for a moment Daryl thought she was going to have breakdown right there. She opened her mouth as if to say more but quickly closed it again, swallowing hard. 

“Let’s keep going for a bit. Check that this place is real and not a fake.” Daryl was still stunned, as if his brain couldn’t keep up with his eyes. He hadn’t seen anything like this since it had all started. 

“Daryl we don’t have to, even I can see that we’re somewhere else! Just look down the road, it goes on for quite a while and there’s a tonne of traffic, life. They’re not even driving on the right side of the road” she shouted in turmoil and no doubt exasperation. That wasn’t the only thing that was different, sure the buildings were a bit different compared to what he was used to, slightly similar to the road they had just come from. A police car whizzed by them playing its siren, Daryl getting a really good look at the car which was obviously not American.

Daryl just nodded, he felt the annoying prickle behind his eyes but rubbed at them before it could turn into anything else. “That case we better get back. Before Rick and the rest of em tear the place down.”

It didn’t take them long to get back at the house, barely a few minutes as they sprinted down the road and barged through the door, letting it slam shut behind them. “Everyone!” Carol shouted at the top of her voice. It was obvious they all had gotten started as there were bags and even a few boxes of things by the door. “We need to put all of this back now!” The last bit she didn’t shout as loudly, fully aware of the old lady next door and her prying ears.

“What’s going on? What did you see?” Rick came barging through from the kitchen at speed.

“It’s not what we thought. Julie is telling the truth, we’re in England and there’s an entire fully functioning civilization out there without walkers.” Carol was shaking as she spoke, overwhelmed by the news herself. Rick started pacing, swearing underneath his breath. Daryl hadn’t realised how quiet it had gotten until he realised that he could hear the sound of his own pulse raging in his ears. Everyone stood still, waiting for a new plan or idea that would solve a number of different issues that were suddenly arising. 

“And you’re sure?”

“On my life.” Carol’s voice quivered and Daryl just nodded his head, silently expressing the same.

“Right, everyone put the stuff back as you found it. If you’ve broken something fix it, hide it, I don’t care as long as Julie doesn’t see it” Rick commanded. “Shit!” He yelled, still pacing and rubbed at his eyes with one hand, the other resting on his hip. By this point everyone else excluding Rick, Carol and Daryl had jumped into action. Hastily putting things away, although by the sounds of it there was some confusion as to what went where.

“What’s the plan?” Carol asked Rick, a look of uncertainty in her eyes. 

“I don’t know” Rick answered honestly. “Convince her and whoever else to let us stay I guess.” Rick looked positively deflated. He knew that he had acted like a real arsehole earlier and even hurt Julie quite badly. Small pangs of guilt washed over him as he realised what he had done to Julie, someone who had somehow believed their crazy story who knew nothing about walkers and the shit hole they had come from. He still didn’t trust her entirely but she was now their only hope in this world and he had likely blown it for all of them. 

It was at that moment that Julie came in the front door, red faced and swollen with her make up all over her face probably caused by her crying as there were obvious tear tracks running down her face, although her eyes were dry at the moment. Rick just stared, opened and closed his mouth a few times, lost for words for once. Julie stared openly back between Rick, Carol, Daryl and then the stuff by the door. 

They were all silent until Carol asked “Are you okay, Julie?” Julie just gave a watery smile and looked down at her feet, her chin wobbling. Rick had a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach, something was telling him that this had nothing to do with the boy she had been on a date with.

“Not really, no.” She said quietly, pausing for a moment before continuing, swallowing a few times as if to hold back the emotion in her voice. “Could you guys do me a favour?” Julie asked in the same hushed tone.

“Yea, anything.” Rick said desperately, the feeling of panic overwhelming him.

“I’m going to go upstairs and get changed and stuff. While I do that could you guys behave and just put everything back as it was?” Glancing at the boxes and bags of supplies they had accumulated at the front door. The three of them just nodded but otherwise stayed silent as Julie made her way up the stairs and kept so until Julie was out of earshot.

“Well shit.” Rick huffed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only a small chapter this time because I want to ask those of you who read this a question which may change the future chapters. So as you've all noticed I've changed the writing style for this one- I found it difficult writing in first person in this bit so yeah, would you guys prefer it if I continue writing the story like this or would you rather I stay to first person for the Julie bits and just right in third person for bits/chapters on the group? 
> 
> Also, I know it's been really slow paced up till now but that will change. :)


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